The current methods of managing an inventory of lighting devices in retail stores requires the dedication of significant amounts of shelf space to accommodate the wide variety of lighting devices. Lighting devices may vary according to form factor, brightness, color, color temperature, and by other characteristics. Where the lighting devices come pre-assembled and packaged, the opportunity to reduce shelf space occupied thereby is minimal.
Advances in lighting using semiconducting materials, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), has enabled greater flexibility to vary the characteristics of light emitted by a single lighting device. By including an array of LEDs which are operable to emit light with differing characteristics, coupled with electronic systems that are configurable to selectively operate the LEDs so as to cause the lighting device to emit light with varying characteristics, there is an opportunity to reduce the shelf/floor space occupied by lighting devices by providing a system that is able to provide multiple types of lighting devices with varying characteristics by assembling and/or configuring lighting devices on an as-needed basis responsive to immediate requests from consumers for lighting devices of certain types and having certain characteristics. Such a system may have one or a few types of lighting modules that may be implemented in a variety of form factors and may be configured to emit light responsive to characteristics indicated by a consumer.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0249996 to Tsao et al (hereinafter “Tsao”) discloses an automatic vending machine for light bulbs including a component depository, an assembling system, and a user interface. Tsao broadly discloses the concept of selecting components and assembling a light bulb based upon an input from a user. However, Tsao does not disclose solutions to a number of problems faced by such a system, such as methods for maintaining and accessing components from the depository, limitations in automated assembly systems and implementations in such autonomous applications, nor any system for confirming an assembled light bulb conforms to the input received from the user. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system that overcomes such difficulties in the autonomous assembly and vending of lighting devices.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.